86% Indians Have ‘Safe Drinking Water’, Yet Diseases Persist

About 86 percent of Indians have access to “safe drinking water”, according to official data. Yet, diarrhoea – associated with contaminated drinking water – is common across India and the third-most-common cause of death among children under five, killing 13 percent of the 300,000 who die every year in this age group.

The definition of “safe drinking water” explains this conundrum and helps the government exaggerate numbers: the census considers water supply from handpumps and tubewells as ‘safe’ piped drinking water, although these sources are carriers of water-borne diseases.

The population with access to “safe drinking water” has increased from 62 percent in 1991 to 78 percent in 2001, and to 86 percent (83 percent rural and 91 percent urban) in 2011. However, only 44 percent of this was tap water, of which no more than 32 percent was treated.

Caused by a host of bacterial, viral and parasitic organisms – most spread by water contaminated with faeces – diarrhoea is closely associated with lack of access to safe drinking water and poor sanitation. In South Asia, only Afghanistan and Pakistan do worse than India in the proportion of child deaths caused by diarrhoea.

Andhra Pradesh registered the most diarrhoea cases nationwide, followed by West Bengal, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh in 2012.

About half of India’s 1.2 billion people do not have access to sanitation facilities, and this is a major cause for the continuing prevalence of diarrhoeal disease, as it can lead to contamination of drinking water sources.

Kerala tops the country in terms of availability of “improved toilets”. The census classifies “improved toilets” as flush/pour latrines connected to piped sewer systems or septic tanks and pit latrines to slab or ventilated improved pits.

A higher prevalence of diarrhoeal diseases is linked to unimproved toilet facilities within a household, according to this analysis of census data. “Unimproved toilet facilities are flush/pour latrines routed into the open rather than enclosed with pipes or septic tanks, pit latrines without slabs or cover, “night-soil” – a euphemism for human excreta – routed into open drains and service latrines with “night-soil” removed by humans or animals. All these can lead to unhygienic conditions thus increasing the risk of contamination and diarrhoeal diseases.

It is clear that providing toilets is not enough to combat diarrhoeal disease. What appears to be more important is the availability of improved, working and hygienic toilets with better mechanisms to dispose the sewage, so it does not contaminate the environment and water sources.

(A version of this article previously appeared on the India Water Portal, and was republished at IndiaSpend. Khambete, a consultant with India Water Portal, explores the relationships between health, water and the environment.)